Rocky Racoon's Road House

BEATLE BIOS

JOHN LENNON

PAUL McCARTNEY

RINGO STARR

GEORGE HARRISON

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					Paul was born in Liverpool, England, June 18, 1942. His upbringing was ideal; he was born into a healthy working-class home. His father Jim McCartney was the leader of a band called Jim Mac's Jazz Band who also brought his music home, playing piano and singing with his family. This practice inspired Paul's writing, and it shows in "When I'm Sixty-Four" and "Honey Pie". Paul's mother was a very loving woman, a nurse, who died of breast cancer when Paul was 14. McCartney joined John Lennon's band The Quarrymen after playing "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and tuning a guitar. After original bassist Stuart Sutcliff quit the band Paul took over on bass . He went on to write two very successful songs; "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" (a song of inspiration to Julian Lennon after John and Cynthia' break up). After meeting American photographer Linda Eastman he broke off his engagement with British actress Jane Asher and married Eastman instead. After recording "Abbey Road,"John had left and the band had unoffically broken up. Paul recorded his first solo album "McCartney" and with it issued a press statement that he had quit the Beatles, stunning the world. Forming his own band, Wings, Paul enjoyed a successful solo career. He later got involved with music publishing, specializing in dead singers like Buddy Holly. In 1979 The Guiness Book of World Records named him the most successful composer of all time, and later he became one of the wealthiest men in Britain.
	John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, to Alfred and Julia Lennon, who divorced before John was three years old. The night of his birth was fraught with explosions by Nazi airplanes; one exploding just outside the hospital he is born in. Alfred took his son to New Zealand when the boy was six, and John decided he wanted to live at sea for the rest of his life. Julia brought the boy home immediately, where he was raised by his Aunt Mimi and Uncle George. John's life ambition changed drastically when Elvis Presley burst onto the scene. Mimi said, "From then on, I never got a minute's piece. It was Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley. In the end I said, 'Elvis Presley's all very well, John, but I don't want him for breakfast, dinner, and tea.'" Mimi bought John a guitar and shortly thereafter he formed his first band, The Quarrymen. Eventually he met Paul McCartney, who amazed John with his ability to tune a guitar. John started to attend art school, but soon quit. There he met his first wife Cynthia and Stuart Sutcliff. Although Sutcliff had very little musical ability he bought a bass guitar and joined The Quarrymen. Throughout his life in the Beatles, John was known for his talent in writing songs which clearly show his emotions. There was no question that John was the head of the band. In 1968, John left wife Cynthia and son Julian for Yoko Ono, an artist whom he had developed a deep love for. The couple married and held two bed-ins for peace. The other Beatles' hostility toward Yoko widened an already dangerous riff and is also credited in breaking up the band. Soon after the wedding, he legally changed his middle name to "Ono." After the Beatles, John released several solo albums, including the Grammy-nominated Double Fantasy, recorded with Yoko. On December 8, 1980, after a night of working on new recordings, John was shot to death just outside his apartment, The Dakota, by Mark David Chapman. His death marked the end of an era when love and peace were revered and greed and hate were denounced. Every year on the anniversary of his death fans gather outside the apartment and leave flowers, poems, and pictures.


		George Harrison was born February 25, 1943; the youngest of the Fab Four; to Harold and Louise Harrison, known as talented ballroom dancers. George was a horrendous student but realized that there was a way out - music - which he loved. At age 13 his mother bought him his first guitar. George met Paul McCartney through school, following him around like a lost puppy. Eventually he discovered The Quarry Men and hung around often, showing his stuff when he could. The other band members thought nothing more of him then a kid who was just tagging along. But his persistence paid of when the other Quarry Men let him play when they were short a guitarist. Although never formally accepted into the band, he was soon a full-fledged member. Through his wife Patti's interest in Eastern religion; George began studying meditation and an Eastern instrument called the sitar, which first appeared on the song "Norwegian Wood" and later on George's own songs. It was at George's urging, through Patti's suggestion, that the Beatles set of to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. As a songwriter, George's talent was never fully realized until the end of the Beatles' career. It was then that songs such as "Old Brown Shoe", "Something", and "Here Comes the Sun" were released as singles. This talent carried over to his solo career with hits like"My Sweet Lord". He worked with Eric Clapton several times, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne (who produced "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love") in the phenomenally successful supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.
						Richard Starkey was born on July 7, 1940, in Liverpool, to Richard and Elsie Starkey. As a child he was sickly, always in the hospital instead of school. After staying in the hospital for two years with chronic pleurisy, he gave up on school and took up drumming when his grandfather bought him a drum set. After joing his first band at age 16, Richard earned his nickname "Ringo Starr" for the many rings he wore on his fingers. The rings also became the subject of the movie "Help!" in which a primitive tribe attempts to steal one of the rings for a sacrifice. Ringo got his first brush with success with the band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, whom the Beatles opened for several times. It was only after producer George Martin declared original Beatle drummer Pete Best "not good" that Ringo joined the Beatles, by suggestion to Brian Epstein by Paul and John. However, at the first session he attended with his new band he found that Martin had brought in a session drummer, Andy White, who played on the Beatles first single Love Me Do. A dejected Ringo was reduced to shaking a pair of maracas. During a hospital stay in 1964 in which he was temporarily replaced with drummer Jimmy Nichols, the Beatles found out just how loved Ringo was. When he rejoined his bandmates in Australia he was greeted by huge crowds and was even nominated for president. Sitting high on a pedestal, light shimmering from his many rings, a happy Ringo was back where he belonged. Following the Beatles, Ringo appeared in several movies ("The Magic Christian"), TV shows ("Shining Time Station"), and TV commercials including one for Pizza Hut with the Monkees. He also has organized several world tours with his All-Starr Band, which have included Joe Walsh and Starr's son Zachery.